Antiseptic attachment for telephones.



No. 757,850. 'PATENTED APR. 19, 1904. H. L. THOMPSON.

ANTISEPTIG ATTACHMENT FOR TELEPHONES.

APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 1. 1904. N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 MMMQM 4/ dbl,

n4: Nona-s PETERS my. mc'roufma. WASNWGTOM o c No. 757,850. PATENTED APR. 19, 1904.

H. L. THOMPSON. ANTISBPTIG ATTACHMENT FOR TELEPHONES. APPLICATION IILBD MAR. 1. 1904.

N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

is HIIllIlllImAi m: HQIRII Firms to, "How uma. wnsumm'on, n cy Patented April 19, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HUGH L. THOMPSON, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT.

ANTISEPTIC ATTACHMENT FOR TELEPHONES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 757,850, dated April 19, 1904.

Application filed March 1,1904. Serial No. 196,072. (No modelh To a. whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HUGH L. THOMPSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Waterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Antiseptic Attachments for Telephones, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of this invention is to provide a portable device that may be readily carried upon the person for application by the user to the mouthpiece of a telephone to protect the user from any disease germs lurking in the instrument.

The invention consists of a shield, herein shown as a disk of fine-mesh wire provided with hooks, so that it may be suspended upon and over the mouthpiece of a telephone without interfering with transmission of speech, and an antiseptic case therefor, all as I will proceed now more particularly to set forth and claim.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the disk applied to a telephone-mouthpiece. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the disk detached. Fig. 3 is a plan view of one form of case with the cover open. Fig. 1 is a cross-section of the case closed with the disk in place therein. Fig. 5 is a cross-section of a case having a removable cover, the disk inclosed. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the form shown in Fig. 5 with the cover removed. Fig. 7 is a side elevation of a telephone-mouthpiece having applied a disk fixed in a middle ring and the cover members hinged to said ring. Fig. 8 is a-plan View, and Fig. 9 a side elevation, of the deviceof Fig. 7 closed. Fig. 10 is a plan view of another form in which the disk is slid, as a drawer, in its case. Fig. 11 is a cross-section of the complete device ofFig. 10. Fig. 12 is a plan view, and Fig. 13 is a cross-section. of the disk member of Figs. 10 and 11 detached.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 6, the Shield 1 may be made of wire of fine mesh and may or may not have a binding 2 of sheet-metal. This shield is provided with hooks 3, whereby it may be suspended upon the mouthpiece 4 of a telephone-transmitter 5 of any suitable construction, so that the said shield may serve as a barrier to the entrance of. disease germs into the mouth and nostrils of the user of the telephone. The shield is designed to be carried about the person in an antiseptic or disinfecting case, and several such cases are herein shown. I

Referring to Figs. 3 and 4, the case is somewhat like a watchcase, having a body portion 6 and a top or cover portion 7 hinged thereto. The body and cover are provided with layers 8 of some absorbent material, held therein in any suitable manner, as by cut spring-rings 9, and this absorbent material is saturated with some suitable antiseptic or germicide, and the shield being in contact with these layers becomes coated with the antiseptic or germicide material.

As shown in Figs. 5 and 6, instead of using a hinged case the body 10 of the case may be provided with a slip-cover 11, and in this case, as in the other, the layers 8 of absorbent material are held in place by cut spring-rings 9.

As shown in Fig. 7, the case may be somewhat like a watchcase, with a central ring 12, in. which the disk 13, of wire, is permanently fixed, and the covers 14 and 15 are hinged to the opposite sides of this ring 12, so as to be capable of being opened out, as in Fig. 7, when the shield is applied to the mouthpiece for use. In this instance the covers 1 and 15 may be snapped down on the ring 12, as in the case of a watch.

As shown in Figs. 10 to 13, the two-part body 16 of the case may have its vertical flange 17 partially cut away for about half of its diameter and at the other half the halves of the case may be secured, as by screws 18, and these halves of the case may be, as before, supplied with suitable antiseptic or disinfectant layers and arranged so as to leave a slight space between them to form a sort of pocket. The shield or wire disk 19 in this instance, bound or unbound, is supported in a flange 20, projecting from a rim 21, and this flange 20 is designed to lit in between the portions of the flange 17 that are cut away, and the rim 21 is designed to close the opening with a neat finish. The shield in this form of construction is slid back and forth in the case after the manner of a drawer. When the shield is to be used, it is withdrawn andit is supported upon the telephone-mouthpiece by means of the rim 21.

Thus 1 have shown my invention applied in a variety of different ways and am aware that there are other arrangements possible for the utilization of the wire disk and its safe keeping, disinfection, and portability, and so do not wish to be understood as limiting the invention herein to mere details.

What I claim is 1. An antiseptic attachment for telephones, comprising a wire disk, provided with means for suspending it over and upon the mouthpieceoi' a telephone, and a disinfecting-case therefor. I

2. An antiseptic attachment for telephones,

comprising a wire disk, provided with means for suspending it over and upon a telephonemouthpiece, combined with a divided case therefor containing layers of absorbent material saturated with a disinfectant or germi- 01C e.

3. An antiseptic attachment for telephones, comprising a wire disk provided with means for suspending it over and upon a telephonemouthpiece, combined with a divided and hinged case therefor containing layers of absorbent material saturated with a disinfectant or germicide.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 25th day of February, A. D. 1904.

HUGH L. THOMPSON.

Witnesses:

REEVES H. IsoRD, HARRY H. KAUFMANN. 

